Psyche of a Gamer: Fluff, is it important?

Recently Second Class Elitist, Ali Alcatraz and I were talking about a conversation he had had with a designer in the miniature wargaming industry.  The crux of the conversation was about whether gamers care about the story, or fluff.  2CE was on the side that story matters, and the designer was on the side that gamers don't care about story.  So while the three of us were discussing this point, I had a bit of epiphany.  Story not only matters, it defines the game for all of us, we just don't realize it.

The LXG Painting Board- January 2015

   All-righty, folks! It is a new year, with new models destined to be painted ! (okay, and some older ones, too). Since several of us here at LXG have made New Year hobby resolutions related to painting, we need to keep an eye on our painting numbers. So, here it is, the LXG Painting board as it stands at the end of January 2015!

The LXG Painting Board

   Ok, most of you probably know by now that we have a "painting board" at LXG Headquarters. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is, quite simply, a dry erase board with a spreadsheet containing the members of our club, and the models we own for each game that need to be painted. The numbers are points which are allocated as follows, quoting Second Class Elitist (2CE) from his New Year's Eve Resolutions article: "Our points system is based on model base size: 25mm/30mm is 1, 40mm or cavalry is 2, 50mm is 4, and vehicles are 10. Terrain is based on similar numbers, but with a lot more leeway to trying to figure them out."
   Since 2CE brought up New Year's Hobby Resolutions, and he and I both made painting related ones, I think it's high time we enforced some culpability on this painting board by letting you, our readers, periodically see our progress. To that end, I am showing you the Painting Board as it stood at midnight, December 31st, 2014. I will then introduce to you any changes we are making to the painting board for 2015, and try to post an update article periodically to let you know how things are progressing.

Psyche of a Gamer: Hobby Resolutions

It's the New Year, and there's one thing that this time of year always brings about:  Resolutions.  They're a natural extension of the change of the calendar, and many people use them in their Hobby as well.  Here's a quick look at how, why, and how not to make them.

Finding your Hobby Again: A little help from your friends

As B97 has been discussing, he's had a bit of a stallout in his hobby.  These things happen from time to time to all of us- life gets in the way due to work or family or money, and it's hard to get momentum on the thing that helps make the rest all easier to deal with.  That's one of the reasons your hobby buddies, your club, your crew, whatever you want to call it, are so important.  We stick together, are there for each other, and maybe even mock each other slightly.  Here's how you can help a buddy of yours that's in a stallout get his thrusters going again.

Kickstarter broke the Internet!

Now that I have your attention... So, Kickstarter is breaking the internet, and destroying the wargaming industry by filling it with a whole bunch of undeliverable products and sketchy business practices. Or... is it?  Let's look at the situation objectively. 

Psyche of a Gamer: The rules need to define everything!

Why is it that some gamers can’t grasp the idea of a flexible rules system?  Case in point I was just involved in a conversation where my conversation partner felt the rules needed to clearly define buildings, and other types of terrain as to their difficulty, etc.  The game system in question basically has the rules defined as “determine with your opponent what keywords apply to each piece of

terrain.”  The other side of discussion seemed to feel that the designers had copped out.  That to allow the players to decide for themselves how the terrain the use was applicable to the rules was somehow lacking.

What is "WAAC"?

     Among wargamers, there's a "dirty word" generally reserved for the worst type of player at the table-  "WAAC."  It stands for "Win At All Costs."  It is also perhaps the stupidest thing to ever come up in gaming, and that's not an easy prize to win.  

Psyche of a Gamer: The Social Contract

2nd Class Elitist and I have spent a lot of time talking about the culture of gamers.  To both of us the psychology of people, the why? to their actions, is something we both like to examine.  Time and again, we have discussed the social contract of gaming.  I thought I'd spend some time discussing this topic because all too often gamers forget that without the person on the other side of the table, we can't play.

Psyche of a Gamer: Getting Your Points Back

So here is something that gets my mind working on a regular basis.  I see and hear gamers everywhere decry that this unit or that unit is sub par.  And the reason for this evaluation often is "It never gets it's point back."  This one statement often sends me running for duct tape to keep my head from exploding.  So this post is dedicated to the exploration of this statement, and why it drives me bat shit crazy.